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It’s day fifteen of my trip down memory lane to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1989 was the fifteenth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the third year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous two year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This fifteenth label was a “Sycamore Maple” or “Acer pseudoplatanus.”

It’s day fourteen of my fall flight to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1988 was the fourteenth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the second year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like last year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This fourteenth label was a “White Spruce” or “Picea glauca.”

It’s day thirteen of my train to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1987 was the thirteenth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the first year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Last year’s brown ale was used as the base for a spiced Bridale for Fritz Maytag’s wedding in early 1987. That recipe became this 1987 Christmas Ale. This thirteenth label was a “Douglas Fir” and a “Coast Redwood,” or “Pseudotsuga menziesii and Sequoia sempervirens.”

It’s day twelve of my Black Friday bound to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1986 was the twelfth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year the beer was another brown ale, their third one, though it was different from the two previous year’s offering, and still with no spices added. But this was also the last beer Anchor made without spices. This twelfth label was a “Golden Chinquapin,” or “Castanopsis chrysophylla.”

It’s day eleven of my Thanksgiving escape to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1985 was the eleventh year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year the beer was another brown ale, their second one, though it was different from the previous year’s offering, and still with no spices added. This eleventh label was a “Pacific Madrone,” or “Arbutus menziesii.”

It’s day ten of my turkey trot to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1984 was the tenth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and it was a radical departure from their previous holiday beers. The 1983 version proved so popular that they changed the Liberty Ale recipe to match it, and ever since, your Liberty Ale is the same as Anchor’s 1983 Christmas Ale. But that also led them to conclude that they should do something different for 1984, so that year the beer was a brown ale, still with no spices added. This tenth label was based on a “Tree of Life.”

It’s day nine of my holiday hotfoot to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1983 was the ninth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and it was similar to the eight previous year’s beers, another variation based on Liberty Ale, still a hoppy pale ale, with no spices added. It was the last year that they based their Christmas Ale on Liberty. From this year forward, also, the label design became relatively fixed and each subsequent label was similar in design. This ninth label was a “Greek Fir,” or “Abies cephalonica.”

It’s day eight of my seasonal scurry to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1982 was the eighth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and it was similar to the seven previous year’s beers, another variation based on Liberty Ale, still a hoppy pale ale, with no spices added. This eighth label was a “Tanoak,” or “Notholithocarpus densiflorus.”

It’s day seven of my seasonal scamper to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1981 was the seventh year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and it was similar to the six previous year’s beers, another variation based on Liberty Ale, still a hoppy pale ale, with no spices added. This sixth label was an “Olive Tree,” or “Olea europaea.”

It’s day six of my seasonal sprint to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1980 was the sixth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and it was similar to the five previous year’s beers, another variation based on Liberty Ale, still a hoppy pale ale, with no spices added. This sixth label was an “Oak Tree,” or “Genus: Quercus.”